>> thanks for joining us here at 5:00. >> see you back here at 6:00. on the broadcast tonight, the rush to save people and property as a flood emergency overwhelms a huge part of the country. a big storm on the move tonight. and out west, an all-out war as an unpredictable wildfire spreads. forcing his hand, president obama makes changes to america's once-secret surveillance program after a explosive disclosure by a man he once dismissed as a hacker. desperate hours, the feds make a big discovery in the frantic search for a missing girl. tonight the manhunt closing in on a suspected killer. and making a difference. wounded veterans on an underwater mission to heal the planet and themselves. "nightly news" begins now.

good evening, i'm lester holt sitting in tonight for brian. the weather folks call it a stalled front, a weather system packed with rain that just won't budge. if you're watching us tonight across a wide stretch of the country from oklahoma to west virginia, be prepared for another drenching and more flooding. the rain totals have been astounding. in some places, 10 inches in a single night, destroying homes, businesses, and turning some streets into raging rapids. and tonight, there have been more deaths. nbc's kerry sanders is in nashville for us again tonight. kerry, what's it look like there now? >> reporter: well, good evening, lester. with more rain looming, there's a race to get soaked carpet, drywall, furniture, just about anything inside houses out before mold begins to grow. this pile behind me is just from one house here in nashville. it's a scene repeated across 17 states. hit by wicked weather.

>> 911. >> we're in a car that's flooding! >> reporter: the torrential rain rain sweeping across the midwest claimed another victim this morning. a 60-year-old man in oklahoma city was swept away in a flash flood while trying to pull his wife and daughter to safety from their stalled car. police found his body a short time later, nearly six blocks away, bringing the death toll from these storms to three. the heavy storms hit a half-dozen states with up to ten inches of rain. officials deployed rescue teams on boats in search of those stranded by the floods. dozens of roadways and highways in several states will remain closed until further notice. in nashville, clean-up today. at the parkwood villa apartments, more than 300 residents evacuated and may be out of their homes for weeks, if not months. >> i lost everything. >> the high water also swamped dozens of cars. claims adjuster timothy lengyel

says car insurance covers this damage. but he has a warning for those in the market for a used vehicle in the coming months. >> are some of these cars that have been flooded going to wind up on the market? >> mostly used cars in two or three months? >> most likely. >> reporter: as folks use a break in the weather to start cleaning up, more storms and heavy rain threaten already hard hit areas. tonight and through the weekend. >> we're stuck in this persistent pattern, bringing thunderstorms and heavy rain to the same areas, flood potential will be expanding eastward through early next week. >> reporter: bad news for gisele nightengale and her family, who returned to their home to survey the damage. >> a lot of stuff we can't replace. trying to decide to start again or go somewhere else. we've never been homeless. >> with the ground saturated, city officials fear even a small amount of rain here in nashville could bring more problems. lester?

>> all right, kerry, thanks. i want to turn to southern california now where some veteran firefighters are calling this one of the fastest and most dangerous fires they've seen in years. the fire is burning near the town of banning. it's forced thousands from their homes who can now only wait and pray. nbc's miguel almaguer is there right now. miguel, why is this fire proving to be so hard to tame? >> reporter: lester, it's because this fire has been so erratic and so aggressive, even those choppers overhead haven't been able to beat back the flames. one of the reasons pushing the fire, there's been so little rain here. about half the normal rainfall. and when i say this fire has been erratic, take a look at the home in front of me, completely destroyed. meantime, the home behind me, a few feet away, still standing. the blaze has charred some 16,000 acres as firefighters work to beat back the flames. today on the front lines, the back-breaking push to contain the silver fire. this is how wild land fires are fought. using little water, crews utilize backhoes and chainsaws

to clear an eight-foot-wide fire break around the blaze. >> we've got to get the ground troops in on the ground to separate the fire from the fuel. >> reporter: the ground war is critical, but shifting winds today forced some teams to pull back. a firestorm could suddenly blow in their direction. this is what happens when the fire is whipped by winds. at least 26 homes destroyed. dave matthews lived here for ten years. in less than ten minutes, his house was gone. >> the house across from me right next door to me, that was fully engulfed, there was nothing they could do when they got here. >> reporter: still threatening 539 homes, the lentless blaze burning in banning has moved at speeds up to 35 miles per hour. >> it singed my hair is got so hot. >> reporter: flames are in the mountains where the esperanza fire took the lives of six firefighters in 2006. and miles away from idyllwild

where the wildfire scorched 27,000 acres last month. >> you can see we have a lot of thick vegetation that is critically dry and ready to burn. >> reporter: 100,000 acres charred across california this year, double the number for this time last year, crews are battling a deadly and historic fire season out west. back in banning, it's too late for this neighborhood leveled by flames. but amid all the destruction -- rebecca wieland and her fiance tonight discovered her home is still handing. >> last time the esperanza, fire, our house made it and thank god, our this time it made it, too. >> reporter: behind me, rebecca wiela wieland's home. no doubt she is one of the lucky ones. this fire is burning about a mile away. it is 25% contained. over the next several days, 1600 firefighters will be doing all they can working around the clock to fully contain this fire. lester? >> all right, miguel, thank you. it appears tonight the american fugitive president obama once referred to as a

29-year-old hacker has forced the president's hand into announcing a series of reviews and possible changes to the government's secret surveillance program. in an afternoon news conference, the president made it clear he regards edward snowden's leaks as criminal acts. but he acknowledged that the leaks have undermined public trust and required a much more rapid response. nbc's chuck todd asked the question that was on everyone's mind. he joins us now from the white house. chuck? >> reporter: good evening, lester. well is it a victory for edward snowden? that's going to depend on the aye of the beholder. but clearly the president admitted his hand was forced when he announced a series of reforms for the controversial nsa surveillance programs. trying to mitigate the damage done to him politically by nsa leaker edward snowden, the president announced new steps to try to restore public confidence in the controversial nsa surveillance program. the president refused, though, to give any credit today to snowden. >> is your mindset changed about him? is he now more whistle-blower

than he is a hacker? is he a patriot? >> no, i don't think mr. snowden was a patriot. as i said in my opening remarks, i called for a thorough review of our surveillance operations before mr. snowden made these leaks. i actually think we would have gotten to the same place. and we would have done so without putting at risk our national security. >> reporter: among the reforms, work with congress to change how the nsa collects massive amounts of phone records, mandate more transparency by the secret court that regularly approves the surveillance. and create a task force of private citizens, including civil libertarians to review the programs. >> all of these steps are designed to insure that the american people can trust that our efforts are in line with our interests and our values. >> reporter: as for his cancellation of a planned summit with russian president putin, triggered in part by snowden, the president tried to downplay their lack of personal chemistry. >> i don't have a bad personal relationship with putin. when we have conversations,

they're candid, they're blunt. oftentimes they're constructive. i know the press likes to focus on body language, and he's got that kind of slouch, looking like the bored kid in the back of the classroom. but the truth is, is that when we're in conversations together, oftentimes it's very productive. >> reporter: now, the president's most passionate response was in an answer on a question about health care. he said this about republicans threatening government shutdown. the idea that you would shut down the government unless you prevent 30 million people from getting health care is a bad idea. of course for the record, lester, the number two republican in the house said they're not going to pursue that strategy. but the president was pretty upset by it. >> all right, chuck todd at the white house, thanks. our chief foreign affairs correspondent, andrea mitchell was watching with us today. andrea as you heard the president talking about his relationship with russian president vladimir putin. so where do things stand? he canceled the summit meeting. are they going to make up now and move forward?

>> no, i don't think so. in fact the russian foreign minister was having a news conference at the same time as the president. he tried to smooth it over. frankly, when the president said candid and blunt, those are code words in diplomacy. that means not good. also putin sent a get well message to george w. bush emphasizing that there is an american president he gets along with. it's not barack obama. and the president also in describing the slouch, the bored-looking kid. that's not the way you would expect the president to describe another head of state. he also, though, did emphasize he is not going to boycott the olympics. he said it's really important for the athletes, they've trained. and he said the best message, because of that ban in russia on homosexuality is for gay and lesbian athletes to come home with the gold. >> i know he talked a little bit about the terror threat. we've been under overseas for the last several days. and i know there's late word now about those embassy and diplomatic closings. what have you heard? >> indeed the state department says that on sunday, they're going to reopen 18 of the 19

yemen, will remain closed, also closed will be lahore, the consulate in pakistan they closed last night overnight. so there's a reopening. they've obviously shored up the defenses of these diplomatic posts and they couldn't have kept them closed forever. >> all right. andrea, thank you. >> you bet. now a tragic scene in a normally quiet connecticut town shattered when a small plane fell out of the sky and crashed into a neighborhood. nbc's michelle franzen is in east haven, connecticut tonight with the latest on that. michelle, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, lester. a tragedy for two families tonight. a father and son on tour of colleges and two children in their house in this quiet neighborhood, all believed to be victims of a horrific plane crash in the homes just beyond me that you see here. the charred remains of the houses were set ablaze when a plane crashed into this east haven community. neighbors reported hearing a loud boom and rushed to the scene. and a mother reported her two

children, ages 1 and 13, were inside the home at the time. fire crews located the bodies of two people. authorities say the plane took off from new jersey's teterboro airport and was attempting a second landing at tweed-new haven airport when the aircraft struck these homes. now tonight family members say the plane was registered to a seattle resident. and also a former microsoft executive, bill hennigsgaard, who was said to be flying with his son, to tour colleges here on the east coast. lester? >> michelle franzen tonight in connecticut, thanks. in the west, authorities think they may be closing in tonight on the murder suspect believed to be holding a teenaged girl missing since sunday. the ordeal, which began in san diego, sparked an intense search throughout the west. nbc's joe fryer is in san diego with the latest for us on that. joe, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, lester. detectives here in san diego are now en route to idaho after a major development that's giving them new hope.

tonight a national manhunt is now focused on a heavily wooded part of idaho, six miles outside of cascade. in an area called frank church river of no return wilderness, investigators found suspect james dimaggio's blue nissan, a car similar to this, with the license plates removed. >> they were spotted twice when they were coming into the area and when they left. they had backpacks on. >> reporter: authorities began focusing on that rugged terrain thursday after a group of horseback riders spotted a couple matching the description of dimaggio and 16-year-old hannah anderson. >> from the account we received, they have both appeared to be in good health. it was unable for us to determine from the witness account, whether she was being held against her will. >> reporter: dimaggio and hannah have been missing since this past weekend when her mother and possibly her brother were found murdered inside dimaggio's burned-out home east of san diego. authorities reveal today that dimaggio recently bought camping equipment. >> the information that we've been acting on is that we

belief that this was a planned event, that there was preparation involved. >> reporter: friends and raves say they fear dimaggio, a long-time family friend lured the anderson family to his home by telling them it was about to be foreclosed. >> he said that he wanted them to go up there for one last time before he loses his house. >> reporter: today's news gives investigators hope hannah can still be found. >> i'm very confident and i think we should all be optimistic that she appeared to be in somewhat good health. >> reporter: authorities in idaho are using a bomb squad to examine the car before collecting evidence. that's because of concerns dimaggio might be armed with explosives. lester? >> joe fryer, thanks. still ahead, tonight, nuclear fallout after one of the worst disasters in decades. tons of radioactive water leaking into the ocean. and fears about where it's headed.

we're back tonight with the urgent situation developing in japan.

a frightening new discovery at the fukushima nuclear plant two and a half years after the disaster there. we learn this week that the plant continues to leak radioactive water and it's going right into the sea. we asked our chief environmental affairs correspondent anne thompson to look at the risks. >> reporter: today the owners of the crippled fukushima nuclear power plant started pumping contaminated water into temporary storage tanks, a desperate act at a plant that in the minds of many is a monument to mismanagement. >> it's leaking like a sieve and groundwater is flushing radioactive contaminants into the ocean and into groundwater. >> reporter: two and a half years after the earthquake and tsunami devastated northern japan, this plant is still an active danger to the environment. in part because water runs downhill. runoff from the mountains goes into the plant and soaks up radiation from leaking storage pools and poison ground. each day, for 882 days, nearly 72,000 gallons of polluted water

has flowed into the pacific ocean. enough to fill an olympic-sized swimming pool every nine days. fed up with the power company this week the japanese government said it's stepping in to help. calling this an urgent situation. in this country, while we have seen all kinds of tsunami debris litter america's west coast, scientists say the leak poses little danger to the u.s. because the radiation dissipates in water. and in the words of one, there's a massive ocean between us. the real risk is at fukushima. the meltdown of three nuclear reactors turned nearby towns into still lives. the threat now is offshore to japanese seafood. fishing is a $14 billion industry. dr. kens byler of the woods hole oceanographic institute says he's finding high levels of radiation in fish like flounder near the plant. >> the levels we see in the ocean looking back towards the shore, are high enough that they must be sustained by a small but continued leak from the reactor site.

>> reporter: today most of the fukushima fishery remains closed. now there are reports the power company is considering freezing the ground around the plant. essentially building a mile-long ice wall underground. something that's never been tried before to keep the water out. one scientist i spoke to today dismissed this idea as grasping at straws, just more evidence that the power company failed to anticipate this problem, lester, and now cannot solve it. >> disturbing is an understatement. anne, thank you. we're back in a moment with word of a life-changing discovery tonight in a garage.

we don't know yet who they are, but we do know there are 16 of them and tonight they're among the luckiest people in the world. it turns out they hold one of three winning powerball tickets, they'll share $149 million. they're from a town on the jersey shore still recovering from hurricane sandy.

nbc's katy tur is in little egg harbor tonight for us. katy? >> reporter: good evening, lester. we're here in little egg harbor. a lot of the homes still look like this without bottom floors. that's why they could really use a little bit of good news around here, and they got it yesterday when it was confirmed that a group of 16 workers from the ocean county vehicle maintenance department believed they purchased one of the three winning powerball ticket here is in little egg, a group of men and women we're told worked around the clock during sandy. we don't know much about them, but what we do know is they're moms and dads, some work two jobs, and at least one was about to retire. when all is said and done, they're going to get $3.6 million. it may not be enough to quit their jobs for, but it's certainly enough to lift the collective spirit of this area. >> good for them. katy tur, thanks. when we come back, american heroes who have already sacrificed so much now making a difference on a new kind of mission underhe seas.

finally tonight, our "making a difference" report is about a group of veterans who sacrificed so much, but found an unlikely new mission in which they help the environment and regain their spirit at the same time. nbc's mark potter tonight on a program that helps them improve

their lives by improving the world. >> reporter: in the water off the florida keys, a flotilla arrives to help save the dying reefs. and joining that mission are some of america's finest, who already have given so much. they're all u.s. military veterans who lost limbs or who suffered traumatic brain injuries and are now a part of a support group called the combat wounded veterans challenge. their biggest challenge has been to come back whole, after suffering the physical and emotional wounds of war. retired navy master chief james wilson who lost a leg says the camaraderie of fellow vets heals his soul. >> it allows me the chance to be the master chief again. and that loss of identity? it's back. it's everything. >> reporter: on this day, the vets have joined scientists at the marine laboratory who grow staghorn coral in an underwater nursery. when the coral grows big enough,

it's replanted on nearby reefs which have been decimated by disease, warming waters and other stress. >> the great thing about this is all military are mission-oriented. they want a purpose. so in transplanting coral, that, they have a purpose. >> reporter: another reason for this trip is to do research on how wounded vets and others can better use these prosthetic devices in water, for which there is very little study so far. helping with that is billy costello of u.s. army special forces. who lost a leg in afghanistan. just a year later, he climbed mt. kilimanjaro, which really impressed the scubanauts, a group of florida teens who dove with the vets at the coral farm. >> i wanted to say guys, look what he can do? he can climb mountains. >> reporter: wounded vets healing themselves by helping and inspiring others. mark potter, nbc news, florida keys. that's our broadcast for

this friday night. thank you for being with us. i'm lester holt in for brian. we hope to see you right back here tomorrow evening. good night and have a good weekend. good evening and thanks for joining outside this friday. >> we begin with a developing story. the desperate search for a missing oakland woman may be over. after canvassing lakes for much of this morning crews searching for any sign of sandra coke turned attention to a rural area in vacaville where they found a female body this afternoon. jodi hernandez joins us live from solano county. police have not yet identified that body? >> reporter: they have not.

and last check the body was still where searchers discovered it, in a heavily wooded area off this roadway behind me. we are told oakland homicide investigators and crime scene investigators are still on the scene processing it for evidence. it could be some time until we know if the body is indeed that of federal investigator sandra coke. >> we can confirm a body has been located. the body is a female. we are awaiting official confirmation on the identity of the body. >> reporter: after spending the day searching several areas of solano county looking for sandra coke, the oakland woman missing since sunday, investigators made that grim announcement this afternoon. search teams found a female's body in a heavily wooded area in vacaville. not far from interstate 80. >> shortly after they began their search, they did in fact locate the body of a female. that sne